The Last Story: Fighting Against Fate
by Mystical Authoress
Summary: One year after the war over the Outsider, General Asthar mysteriously returns to life. Zesha, the newest King of the Gurak, is growing madder with grief, though it's someone else that manipulates him in the shadows. Callista is now the target of an enemy that has existed for hundreds of years to fulfill a deadly prophecy. Now, Therius must fight against fate to protect everyone.
1. Prophecy

**Author note: I do not own The Last Story.**

**Hello! ...Yes, I'm starting ANOTHER fic. Why...? 0_0 Because I really needed to get this out on something. And I wanted to write more stuff for this fandom. XD This fic is inspired by stuff in an RP forum created by zgirl16, but this fic will differ a bit from what it was in the RP. XD **

**Warning: There are OCs created by yours truly (me, Mystical Authoress) but there are also OCs in this fanfic that are created by zgirl16. I do NOT own them, and YES, I DID ASK PERMISSION TO USE THEM FIRST BEFORE PUTTING THEM IN THIS FIC.**

**So, to clear things up so no one is confused about which OC belongs to which fanfic author...**

**OCs owned by Mystical Authoress (me): Azalea, Sebastian, Draven**

**OCs owned by zgirl16: Iris, Kresa, James, Leia**

**There. All settled. XD **

**Warning (for the fic): OCs, violence, various pairings, uh...I'll put up more warnings later on if needed...**

**Constructive Criticism would be great, and I hope that you read, review and enjoy! Thanks! XD **

* * *

_**The Last Story: Fighting Against Fate**_

* * *

**_1. Prophecy_**

* * *

Therius walked through the hallways of Lazulis Castle, alone.

One year.

It had been_ one year_ since the war between the Gurak Continent and Lazulis Island ended. And one year since the death of the one closest to him, his mentor. General Asthar.

Therius hadn't visited his tomb in that one year at all. Not since the funeral.

At least this time he brought some flowers with him-white lillies, to be exact. The General always had a liking towards life, after all...it wouldn't hurt to put a bouquet of the blooms at his tomb...

The white knight continued to walk towards General Asthar's tomb (thank goodness that he was given a place to rest-he deserved such a rest after all he'd been through) quietly, without a word.

And then, without warning, Therius swore he heard something.

...That something was a muffled _scream._

And it was coming down the corridor, echoing from the crypt below.

"What...?"

The white knight couldn't believe his ears. He nearly dropped the lilies in the process as he kept running, thoughts flying through his head as his footsteps pounded against the floor beneath him.

_Is that scream...could it be...but that's impossible, it cannot be..._

He finally reached the entrance to the crypt, rushing inside as he heard another muffled scream from inside the room. Inside the crypt were many stone coffins, containing those that had fought bravely in the war a year ago and died. General Asthar was resting among them-his body was resting at the far side of the room.

_Where is it coming from...?_

Therius hesitated, before calling out.

"Who's there?"

Someone answered back.

_"S-sir Therius!?"_

...Therius now knew whose voice it was.

"G-General...?"

The white knight was nearly at a loss for words, unsure of what to do, but then regained his composure. If General Asthar was alive and kicking in that stone coffin only to be suffocating, that meant Therius had to get him out of there-_fast._

"General Asthar! Hang in there, I'm coming!" The white knight shouted, rushing towards the stone coffin where Asthar was, dropping the lillies and forgetting about them completely. He had to help the General. He _had to._

As soon as the white knight got to Asthar's coffin, he immediately tried to lift the lid with his bare hands. No luck. Half cursing, he unsheathed his sword, pushing the tip of it under an open crack between the lid and the rest of the coffin, before pushing the rest of the sword downwards to act as a lever. Slowly, so _slowly, _it finally opened. Therius kept pushing with all of his might, until the lid finally gave away and was pushed to the side, letting out a loud banging noise as it hit the floor below.

Immediately, General Asthar sat up in the coffin, trying to regain his composure as he took a few breaths. Therius just stared in disbelief, unsure yet again of what to say, before speaking.

"General...you're alive?"

General Asthar blinked, turning towards Therius quietly as he spoke. "I am alive now, Sir Therius...though I have no idea how. I am glad to see you again, and...thank you, for getting me out of that coffin..."

Therius nodded quietly, helping him get out of the coffin, the two now standing. "You are welcome, General." He responded quietly. "How long were you awake...?"

"For a good while. I had no idea where I was, and then I remembered I had died, being stabbed by Master Dagran. That was when I realized I was in a coffin." The General shuddered at this. "I wish not to be in such a confined space again until I am dead again, if that happens."

Therius nodded quietly, just as Zael rushed into the crypt, accompanied by Mirania.

"Therius, are you alright?" Zael started. "Mirania and I heard screams from the crypt, and-" He stopped midsentence as soon as he saw General Asthar, unsure of what to say. Mirania, however, filled it in for him.

"General Asthar...? But how...?"

Therius and Asthar both exchanged glances, before Asthar spoke.

"It's a long story."

* * *

Callista Arganan knew that she was the only human that could really be able to discuss anything with Lord Zesha, the newest King of the Gurak. Had it been Zael going to the Gurak Continent instead of her, the two would be more likely to start an argument. Ever since Zepha and Zangurak's deaths, Zesha had been forced to take over the role of King of the Gurak. And Callista knew, with all her heart, that he absolutely abhorred being in such a role. Yet, he was willing to sacrifice his freedom for his people.

The reason she was coming to see Lord Zesha, however, was not because of politics or old wounds. It was because of something else.

Apparently there had been reports of Lord Zesha becoming more and more disturbed over the past few months. At first the other Gurak wrote it off as mourning over Zepha's death-Zepha had been the closest person to him, after all.

But then things got worse. Nightmares, hallucinations...the Gurak were fearing that he was going insane with grief.

Zesha, however, kept denying it.

And now, out of desperation, the Gurak had turned to Callista for help. She couldn't just stand by-she had to accept. After all, despite all that his people had done to her people, they had done the same. And it wasn't fair to just let someone struggle with their darkness alone-Callista knew that very well, of how bad it could get.

What she wasn't expecting, though, was that Zesha greeted her by throwing a knife at her as she entered his office-like quarters.

...Technically, not _at _her, but in the direction she happened to be in. The Countess of Lazulis let out a quick gasp as the knife hit the door, only milimeters from her face. Zesha's eyes widened at this in surprise, in shock, before speaking.

_"A-apologies_...Lady Callista..." He quickly walked around his desk, taking out the knife from the door and putting it back on the desk, before facing her. "I wasn't paying attention."

Lady Callista looked at him sadly, realizing that he was still wearing the same attire as last year. His Gurak armor, chestplate and all, had shifted straight to something more regal-which was obvious, since he was now King of the Gurak-but his clothing attire was _still_ in the same mourning black and red, with hints of blue on the handles of both the sheathed East Wing and West Wing as a reminder of Zepha. The North Wing and South Wing hung on the wall in the office quarters, to Callista's far left.

"It's alright." Callista tried to reassure him. "I should have knocked first, before entering."

There was silence between them for a moment, before Zesha spoke up again.

"You came because my people asked you to, didn't they?" He let out a grim laugh at this. "Claiming I'm going mad out of grief...if only that could be so..."

Callista raised an eyebrow at this, confused. "What...?"

"Mad out of grief. That would be a fitting end to one who has lost many of his people, his only relative, and the greatest leader of all the Gurak." Zesha repeated quietly, his eyes locking with hers. They looked bloodshot, filled to the brim with defeat and longing. "But I will tell you this-I'm not mad. I can feel it. Someone is using me, but I don't know why or who. And I cannot tell anyone-if word got out that their King was being driven to madness, some might assume it is a_ human's_ work and try to attack Lazulis based on a mere assumption."

"Oh." Callista winced at this. Zesha did have a point there. Before she could say anything else, another voice spoke up out of nowhere.

_"Who_ is driving you mad, Lord Zesha? Oh, that's _me._ And it's because I absolutely _adore_ messing with memories. That's why..." There was a brief chuckle that came from the voice. Zesha's eyes narrowed, before he picked up the knife and threw it at the intruder. Callista turned to see the intruder let out a yelp, the knife cutting through the skin of the back of his right hand, before he gazed at the wound. Pausing, he licked the wound curiously, before speaking. "Oh. I thought blood would taste better than that. But oh well, I suppose that doesn't matter..."

Callista was disgusted at the sight of this intruder. He was a male human, in his early to mid-thirties, with long, dark brown hair that was tied back in a braid like Therius' own, except a bit thicker. Dark amber eyes gazed at the two quietly, a smirk on his face. The long, brown coat he wore over his white tunic was splattered with darker brown stains (blood?) and he wore black trousers and boots to finish off the look.

"Who are you?" The Countess of Lazulis Island asked, glaring at the man.

The older man merely smiled. "My name, Lady Callista Arganan, is Belladonna. _Draven _Belladonna. 'Tis a pleasure to meet you, finally." He then turned towards Zesha, still smiling. "And same goes for you, Lord Zesha."

Zesha took out both the East Wing and West Wing, his eyes sharpening into a glare at this human intruder. "What do you want?" He snapped.

The other laughed, his eyes glittering with absolute delight. "I thought I would give you a little warning, though I think you already know. The witness and the victim draw close to the next tragedy that shall befall the Arganans..."

Callista was confused at this. "What..what do you mean...?"

Draven laughed at this, at her lack of knowledge.

"A tragedy will surely happen, of course! In what way, I do not know...it could be in any way possible..." He started to back out of the room, but Zesha had other plans.

_"You're not running away yet."_

Before Draven could speak, he was thrown against the wall, and he slumped into a sitting position, letting out a pained groan as Zesha got on a knee, now pointing the East Wing at his neck.

_"Tell me_ why you're here besides the bloody message," Zesha snapped, eyes glowing with anger, "Or I'll slit your throat."

Callista froze. She wanted to tell Zesha not to kill this man, that he hadn't even done anything. But if he really was the man that was messing with Zesha's mind...

Zesha was immediately blasted backwards by a dark light, and Draven stood, looking at Zesha with an apathetic expression.

"Goodness, Lord Zesha, I thought you would act more _civil_ than this. Then again...socializing with anyone was never much of a strong point for you." Draven smiled a bit, glancing at Callista. "Perhaps I'll make _you_ into a life-sized marionette after you're dead, if the master permits it. You're too lovely to be buried in a grave..." He glanced at Zesha. "And what to do with you? When you break after witnessing the tragedy, you'll be pretty lifeless, too. I could do whatever I want, torment you to the point of insanity with magic of light and dark, throwing knives at your being and letting them just barely miss the most fatal areas...maybe I could even rip you apart with your very own memories, and the memories of others...I've been doing that quite the while now, and it's quite entertaining to me."

Zesha coughed, trying his best to stand. "Not...happening..." He rasped quietly. The other just kept that unnerving grin.

Callista had enough of this.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I do not intend to die, nor do I intend to become some...some _marionette _of yours!" She spat out, summoning a Shining spell and blasting Draven with it. "Get out of here, or...or I'll destroy you myself!"

Draven let out a pained groan, glancing at Callista, and then at Zesha, weakly smiling at them still.

"I will depart...for now. Though it's an absolute shame, Lady Callista, that you deny such beauty to be kept from wilting. Mark my words, I will get the newest one in my collection... I swear that completely. Now, adieu. Until next time."

With that being said, Draven was gone instantly before their eyes. Zesha let out a quiet breath, and there was silence betweent the two of them before he spoke again.

"Are you alright? Lady Arganan...?"

Callista paused, before speaking. "I'm fine. But what about you?"

Zesha still looked a bit unnerved, but he did his best to stay calm. "I'll be fine."

Callista knew, in her heart, that Zesha was definitely not fine. Not with this mysterious man running around and messing with his memories.

But...what exactly did he mean by the _witness and victim?_ The _next tragedy_ to befall the Arganans? What was this all about...?

The Countess of Lazulis had a feeling that she had to do a little research once she got back to Lazulis Castle from the Gurak Continent.


	2. I Need You

**Author note: Just wanted to say thanks for all the reviews and views so far-I appreciate it. XD Now, to answer questions...**

**zgirl16: I was originally going to keep this the canon Zaelista as this fic takes place post-game, but I don't have the two married yet so...we'll see... XD **

**ShitanePaiko: Yup. Asthar's back, and I'm really happy about it... XD **

**Okay, now back to the story! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**_2. I Need You_**

* * *

General Asthar woke up, sitting up in bed and surveying his surroundings for a moment before remembering.

He had been brought back to life. And Therius had gotten him out of that coffin, that crypt he was sealed in...

He couldn't remember another time that he had been just that relieved to see his pupil. He really couldn't. But he was alive, Therius had gotten him out of that coffin before he could suffocate to death. The explanation to Zael and the others went...smoother than he thought. Though he _did _get a few stares from a couple of the maids, butlers and other knights in Lazulis Castle. Which, well, that made sense, considering the fact that he _was _dead for a year.

Getting dressed quickly, he figured that a nice walk around the Lazulis Castle Courtyard could probably do him some good. Fresh air always helped one's train of thought keep moving, after all. He was alone as he walked down the hallway-which made sense, after all, it was early morning-but he did pass by a few knights who bowed to him in respect. He nodded, acknowledging their presence as he passed by.

Therius...he remembered his pupil telling him of what happened since Asthar's death. Dagran had to be killed because he went insane with the Outsider's power, Zangurak and Zepha were both dead, the Gurak Continent and Lazulis Island were at peace with each other...heck, Lowell himself had even gotten killed temporarily, but was revived due to Dagran using his power of the Outsider to save him. And now Therius had been training the knights back at the Empire to become true, noble knights, the knights that they were supposed to be.

Asthar couldn't help but feel a bit proud of his pupil for taking on such a task. Knowing his own experiences, it wasn't easy to discipline future knights-it required much patience to get that job done...

His train of thought was then halted when he suddenly smelled something.

_Lilies...?_

Astahr remembered that Therius had been bringing a bouquet of fresh lilies to his grave only yesterday when Asthar was revealed to be alive again somehow. It made sense, back then, to be smelling lilies, but..._now...?_ He hadn't even neared the Courtyard yet, and already he was smelling flowers. There were no other pot or vase of flowers lying around in the hallway. So...where was that scent coming from?

His answer was given when he stepped into the Courtyard, which was flooded with flowers.

_Literally, almost_ _completely,_ flooded with flowers.

Lilies had been the most noticeable scent, but now Asthar noticed the scents of roses, sunflowers, tulips, lavender, and various exotic blooms as well. That was not the most surprising part, though. The place had gotten...far more extravagant in appearance since last time. The shock of all these plants seemed almost overwhelming.

The most surprising part was that there was actually someone besides him in the courtyard. Her eyes, brown as the darkest dirt, gazed upon a lily she held in one hand as black locks of hair elegantly trailed down to a few inches past her shoulders, as if they were. Crimson lips, as red as the reddest rose, seemed to make the smallest frown as she looked up from the lily and gazed around her.

"Perhaps," She started, loud enough for Asthar to hear, "I may have...overdone the decoration a bit. I was worried I wouldn't get noticed. I tend to blend in with nature, after all." She tossed the lily aside with a sweeping gesture, the lace sleeves of her red blouse showing off her long arms in a sophisticated but different way-not like the noblewomen that wore stuffy ballgowns and such. She wore the blouse with black dress pants and flats, and she stood with one foot in front of the other, keeping such perfect balance where she was standing.

Asthar felt that he was supposed to answer what she had just said.

"That may be true, about overdoing the decoration. I'm not sure if Lady Callista would appreciate this much extravagance..."

The woman looked up at him, making eye contact with him as she spoke again. "Of course, such decoration was _not_ meant for the good of Lady Callista...General Asthar."

There were countless people that knew his name. Civilians, for example. Other soldiers, too. But something told Asthar that this woman was not a civilian, or a noble, or a soldier. She was none of those. In fact, he sensed something..._threatening._..emanating from her.

"Pardon me, but I'm afraid I'm at a loss for a name." The once-dead General responded. "May I know what your name is, if you please...?"

The woman nodded quietly, taking a few steps closer towards him until they were only a few feet or two away from each other.

"Azalea." She finally spoke after a moment. "My name is Azalea, General Asthar. It's a pleasure to finally meet the man who _I_ raised from the dead only yesterday."

General Asthar dared to raise an eyebrow. "You...?"

"Yes, me. Though it was completely a mistake to do so. My master was not pleased with this, obviously..."

_Master? Mistake? She's the one that brought me back...? _

Azalea just continued speaking. "I thought that I needed you for the prophecy to be fufilled, but I was wrong..."

It was then that Asthar caught Azalea's scent.

_Lilies. Sir Therius carried lilies on the way to his grave...could it be...?_

"You used the lilies to purposely lead him to where I was so that I wouldn't suffocate in my coffin, didn't you?"

Azalea's eyes widened a bit, but she gave the smallest half-smile at this statement. "I did, General. Excellent deduction. I manipulated his sense of smell to choose those lilies, actually. Manipulating that scent gave me the advantage to give him a greater sense of something happening in the crypt, which was me bringing you back to life in this situation...which would therefore cause him to run over to the crypt and save you from dying the second time in a row. Impressive, isn't it?"

"So," The General stated, "That means if you have the same scent as something that someone has, they'll be able to sense you more easily. That must be quite a weakness in battle...if the enemy can sense you, you won't even be able to hide."

Azalea gave him a look, as if it was a mere joke. Her smile completely vanished, her voice growing cold in an instant. "There are many scents that come from many, _many_ flowers, General. Don't think that it'll be that easy to catch me like that again."

Before Asthar could answer, that was when Therius walked in on them.

"General-"

Therius was cut off when a vine appeared out of nowhere, wrapping about his neck tightly. The knight tried to break free, but the loss of breath caused him to slowly grow slack.

The older man's eyes widened in shock at this, before turning towards Azalea, taking out his sword. "Lady Azalea, unhand Sir Therius this instant!"

Azalea just glared back at Asthar, all of the cool elegance completely gone. Her eyes glowed a dark combination of emerald and sky as she spoke. "The reason I came to confront you is this, General Asthar. Tell me where the book of fate is, and then I'll let your pupil go..."

"The book of fate...?"

_What in the world is she talking about...?_

Before Asthar could do anything, a blur rushed at Azalea, knocking her back before turning and shooting a Bolt Arrow at the vines restraining Therius, freeing the white knight. The blur then cleared, and the General recognized the figure to be none other than Zesha-except that instead of the usual armor Asthar had seen him wear, he was instead wearing funerary black and red armor.

The Gurak King glared at Azalea sharply, pointing his East Wing at her. "Leave at once, human." He snapped. _"Now."_

Azalea glanced at Zesha, then at Therius, who had gotten his sword out, then at Asthar.

"I'll retreat for now. But don't believe this is the last you will hear from me."

She then teleported away before either of the three could do anything. Therius let out a breath, sheathing his sword, before turning to Zesha, who had put away his own weapons.

"Lord Zesha...what are you doing here?"

"I thought _thank you _is in order, first...?" The Gurak King muttered quietly, before explaining. "I just needed to see Lady Arganan about something important..." He then turned towards Asthar. "Who was that woman just now...?"

General Asthar glanced at where Azalea was, before speaking. "She said her name was Azalea, Lord Zesha. And...that apparently she is the one that brought me back to life..."

Therius' eyes widened at this. "So...she is both a nature mage and a light mage...?"

The once-dead General nodded in response. "I suppose so..."

_And she said I wasn't needed for something. A prophecy. That I wasn't actually supposed to be brought back to life...I have to find out what this is all about._

"That would take more power than a regular mage to resurrect someone, if you don't have a large amount of power like Lord Zangurak did with the Outsider..." Zesha muttered to himself, though the other two heard it. He paused, before speaking again. "I will be going to see Lady Arganan now. I'll tell her about this at once..." He then turned on his heel, walking out of the Courtyard. The other two paused, before following.

Callista wasn't going to be happy with this news. That was something both of them knew for sure.


	3. Haunted

**_3. Haunted_**

* * *

The nightmares were getting worse and the voices were no longer resounding in his head.

Zesha growled at the newest hallucination set in front of him, a sad mockery of his bloodied, dead twin-Zepha.

"Give it up, Draven," The King of the Gurak snapped, staring right into the illusion's eyes. Zesha kept telling himself, in his mind, that the person facing him was _not _the ghost of his dead brother. It was a hallucination, and he wouldn't let himself be driven to wits' end by mere illusions. He was the Gurak King. He was not going to let some illusionist go and manipulate him like a marionette. "I'm not falling for this one."

The mockery of his twin raised an eyebrow, but did not move, and the words that came from its mouth sounded like Zepha's voice, but yet also had a hint of bite in Draven's voice combined with it as well.

_"I cannot believe," _The mockery of Zepha spoke, _"That you dared to actually come to Lazulis. That you were so desperate, so _weak,_ to seek help from a petty _human._ What are you thinking!?"_

"You're not my brother, Draven. Give it up." Zesha snarled back, taking out the East Wing and pointing it at the illusion's throat.

The illusion seemed taken aback for a moment, before speaking.

_"...You were so quick. To be so kind to Lady Calista."_

"So?" The other responded, still keeping his sword raised. "What does that have to do with anything?"

_"I can sense your feelings. You're getting protective of her. And it's not just because of some mere prophecy of her getting killed and you being the witness to her death. Am I correct?"_

"Shut up!" Zesha slashed at the illusion, but it jumped back, turning back to normal Draven, who smirked a bit.

"Perhaps I'll go and probe Lady Calista's mind for myself to see of how she feels about you...and I won't let you interfere with that, obviously."

Zesha was too late to stop Draven's eyes from glittering silver, marionette strings restraining him by the ankles and wrists, wrapping about them so tightly that Zesha was forced to drop his sword.

"You..." The Gurak King struggled, but the attempts were in vain. "You...if you dare..."

"Adieu, Lord Zesha."

The door shut closed after Draven walked out.

* * *

"A prophecy?"

Zael, General Asthar, Mirania and Calista were both looking through the books in the Lazulis Castle library, trying to find out something about Azalea and Draven when Mirania happened to stumble upon a book concerning this 'book of fate' that Azalea spoke to Asthar about only earlier this morning.

This whole 'book of fate' and 'prophecy' thing was really getting to Asthar already. He wasn't alive for that reason. He was only alive because of some assumption that he was needed, and now he could be killed at any time because he was 'useless.'

That was _really _irking him.

The thing, though, was that something intrigued him about it. Was there someone specific that needed to kill Calista? Did Azalea assume that he, General Asthar, would be the one to do it? Was that why she brought him back to life? It could be so. It was only a theory, but it could be so.

But...if there was something specific that needed to happen to Calista for her to die, what was it?

"According to this," Mirania spoke up, glancing at the book as she continued, "The book of fate can be used to control Fate. Fate affects almost everything in our lives-at least, if you believe in it so strongly. Whoever controls the book of fate would control Fate itself, and...control the world. But if they need to gain control of the world, they need to destroy an entire bloodline of those in power, whether it be politically or in other ways..."

Zael nodded quietly, turning towards Calista. "That's probably why Azalea was talking about the book of fate, for why Draven was talking about you being killed. But why Zesha as the witness? How could he know that? Do you think he already has the book of fate?"

Asthar shook his head. "That cannot be. Azalea was trying to find it for her master. And I'm under the assumption that Draven and Azalea serve the same master. Draven must be trying to make sure we can't function properly by distracting us-especially Lord Zesha-with the illusions. Meanwhile, Azalea tries to find the book of fate...it's a strategy, for sure, but a glaringly obvious one once the pieces are put together. Unless we're missing something."

"Like what, General?" The Countess of Lazulis asked.

"Like-"

That was when Zael let out a sharp gasp of pain, falling to his knees as he gripped his head in pain.

Mirania approached Zael. "Zael? What's wrong-"

"I feel like someone is trying to read my head!" Zael managed, gritting his teeth as he kept holding his head. He seemed to double over, the pain increasing. "It-it-"

"Hurts?" A voice familiar to Calista spoke up. "I thought it would. That always happens. Bad memories bring the worst pain to an individual, after all."

Calista turned, starting to summon a Shining spell. "Draven!" She shouted, glaring at him. "What do you want!?"

Draven, wearing a white military coat of the sorts, merely smiled, snapping his fingers just as Calista shot the spell at him. A cloud of smoke appeared where it hit, and when it cleared, it didn't appear that Draven had taken any damage at all. Floating, silent women surrounded Draven, all wearing various, beautiful dresses. One of them in particular looked up at Calista, her eyes blank, and the Countess of Lazulis froze on the spot at the sight of it.

"Mother...?"

The woman looked just a little older than Calista, with silvery-white hair that trailed to her shoulders. She wore a light blue dress, with lace ruffles on the long skirt and waist part of the dress. Eyes once full of life, now devoid of it, gently gazed at Calista. Her pale pink lips looked like they were about to say something, but they never opened to speak a word.

Draven looked confused, before he glanced at the floating woman Calista was staring at. "Ah," He spoke after a moment, "I see. So this one was _your _mother. I preserved her years ago, just after her funeral. I had the honor of meeting her during the time, and she seemed like such a nice woman, just like the rest of her descendants before her..."

Asthar couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You're telling us that you've preserved Lady Calista's past descendants and turned them into...into..."

"Marionettes?" Draven finished. "Yes, I did. I've been doing that for the past twenty years of my life, so since...well...since I was ten years old. And why not? I'd like to think that preserving the dead, especially ones so beautiful, is a proper respect to them. To care for them after their souls have departed to the next life. I believe that it would a proper respect to you, Lady Calista, once you are dead."

Mirania seemed to almost grit her teeth at this. "I don't find it kind to be doing this. To preserve the dead like that for your manipulation. And, I highly doubt you asked permission, even..."

Before Draven could say something, that was when a blur rushed just past Draven, the manipulator's left upper arm suddenly gaining a deep cut. Draven gritted his teeth in pain as he grasped onto the wound with one hand to try to stop the bleeding, just as the blur cleared to reveal Zesha.

"How did you...?" Draven started, but Zesha pointed his sword at his throat.

"Leave this place at once or else I'll get Therius to call the guards." The Gurak King snapped, his eyes full of rage. _"Now."_

Draven took a few steps back, before rushing out the library doors with the human marionettes disappearing. There was a groan to be heard from Zael, who appeared to have snapped out of his memory torture.

"Zael!" Calista rushed over to the wielder of the Outsider, helping him stand. "Are you alright?"

Zael nodded quietly, still holding his head with one hand. "Yeah, I'm better now...who was that?"

"That was Draven." Zesha spoke up. "I already alerted Therius earlier to call the guards to be on alert. They're probably chasing down Draven right now as we speak."

"So you went through with it even before the threat?" Asthar asked. "Then why did you-"

"It was to make sure he knows _not_ to come back soon. I don't think he's the type for fighting-he just likes messing with us. Next time he comes back, I'll..."

"Zesha," Calista spoke up, "He's gone for now, at least. Thank you..."

The Gurak King paused, before muttering something quietly so only Calista could hear.

_"You're welcome."_

* * *

Leia didn't think today would be much different from what her life had been for the past month or so. Try to take care of herself, get adjusted to not living at the castle anymore (her husband had died in battle as a knight against some unruly Reptids in the past month), and still try to figure out what to do now that she had no financial support left (she had money as compensation for her husband dying in battle, and a place to live, which was good, but that money would run out soon if she didn't find out a way to get money. It didn't help that she was already eight months pregnant, either). She couldn't really sing in the condition she was in (she used to be a minstrel woman of sorts), so she would have to think of something else that would give her the financial support needed...

As she walked through the streets of Lazulis City, however, she would soon realize that things would be different.

A man came stumbling over to her, wearing a white, long military jacket that was stained with red at the left arm from an open cut. His hair was tied back in a long, thick braid of dark brown, dark amber eyes alerted with a bit of panic.

"E-excuse me," The man started, looking around, "Can you help me, please? I need to hide somewhere-now-the Lazulis guards, they-"

The former minstrel nodded quietly, glancing at a nearby cart of hay, covered with a thick blanket. She knew too well of how corrupt and selfish some of the Lazulis guards and knights could be. "There-that can work. Quickly, get in there!"

The man nodded, getting into the cart and pulling the blanket over himself. Only moments later, a few Lazulis guards came rushing over to her.

"Have you seen a man with a long braid and wearing bloodstained clothing come this way?" One of the guards asked gruffly.

Leia shook her head, adjusting the red and black mask covering the left side of her face as she spoke. "No, I have not seen such a man." She lied cooly, her expression as innocent as possible.

The guards glanced at each other, before giving up and leaving. As soon as they were out of sight, Leia turned towards the hay cart. "You can get out of there now." She whispered quietly.

The man got out of the cart, brushing pieces of hay off his clothing and out of his hair.

"Thank you," He spoke, smiling at her. "You saved my life, Miss, um..." He was at an immediate loss of a name, which made sense considering that he had never seen her before.

"Leia." The former minstrel told him, smiling back. "My name is Leia."

The other gave her a quiet nod, before giving her a small bow. "My name is Draven Belladonna, Miss Leia, and I just recently arrived at Lazulis City to give a report to Sir Therius...although it appears that the other knights and guards here at Lazulis are not as kind as I thought they would be." He ended.

The other let out a sigh at this. "Well," Leia spoke quietly, "I can tell you that the guards being so unkind was a lot worse than this before. I'm not sure what could have happened to you if you ended up here a year ago..."

Draven nodded quietly. "I see..." He paused, before speaking again. "Is there anything that you would like help with?"

Leia looked at him quizzically, pushing a short brown curl of hair behind her ear. "Pardon?"

"I-I mean," The older man looked a bit embarrassed, averting his eyes from her as he tried to explain, "I-it just doesn't seem right to have my life saved by someone and be unable to repay them for such a favour. If you don't mind, that is."

Leia thought about it for a moment. She'd only just met this man-this Draven Belladonna was a complete stranger. She didn't know him and he didn't know her. But yet, she saw the honesty in his eyes-he wasn't lying about anything. He wasn't going to trick her, to do anything bad to her like what happened in the past. She could trust him.

Besides, getting an extra hand in carrying her belongings to where she was now living would be useful. Very useful.

"Alright," She spoke in response, "I know a few things you can help me with. I still have some belongings back at the castle that I need to move to where I'm now living. It would be nice to have some extra hands to help carry them, as, well..."

Draven looked slightly confused, before realizing that she was pregnant. He didn't seem disgusted by it or looked at her in any negative way about it (not like her late husband) but seemed to understand her situation, smiling at her quietly. "Ah, I see. I'm willing to help, Miss Leia..."

* * *

Therius knew that if he ever saw this Draven Belladonna alone (or trying to threaten, say, Lady Calista or anyone else), Therius would not hesitate to confront him and make sure he wasn't getting his hands on Lady Calista or trying to kill any innocent people.

Of course, if he was in the company of a pregnant, former minstrel-woman and helping her carry her belongings to where she was living now, well...

...That obviously complicated things.

Therius couldn't just go and fight Draven-he could endanger Miss Leia in the process, and her unborn child. That would not be good.

Therefore, the white knight had no choice but to not fight Draven, and to play along with whatever lie Draven had made up.

"A-apologies for my lateness, sir." Draven was obviously lying, but he had a pretty honest look on his face. Therius knew that Draven must be a good actor to get access inside the castle. Pretending to be a messenger from the Empire was not an easy role to play, contrary to others' beliefs. "Bandits attacked me on the way here, and then as soon as I get inside Lazulis, some of the knights were so rude as to blame me for something they did themselves. Miss Leia here helped me, though, and she needed help moving into her home, so I thought it would be alright to help her, and..."

Therius put up a hand to silence Draven, pretending that he had been expecting him for a while.

"I see." He tried to stay calm, keeping his serious demeanor. "Though I am not impressed by such lateness, I will pardon you _this_ time, Draven."

"Understood," Draven spoke, still acting the part of the innocent messenger. "I will not fail you next time, Sir Therius."

"And this message," Therius continued, "What is it about?"

Draven seemed to almost smile, and then took a step forward, whispering into Therius' ear.

_"When my marionettes dance, I will make the King of the Gurak the next for manipulation. He will be the one that finds the book of fate for me."_

Therius' eyes widened at this, but knew he had to stay calm. Quickly regaining his composure as Draven withdrew from him, he merely nodded.

"I see...thank you for reporting this to me. It will be dealt with soon enough. You may go, Draven."

Draven nodded quietly, giving Therius a small smile. "Thank you, Sir Therius." He spoke quietly, before he and Leia passed by him, carrying the supplies.

Therius, meanwhile, knew that he had to warn Zesha and Calista of this immediately.

* * *

**Author note: ...Whoo. Super long chapter. I hope you guys liked it, and HAPPY STAR WARS DAY! MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU! XD **


	4. Encounters

**_4. Encounters_**

* * *

Calista walked down the corridor quietly by herself, thinking about all that had transpired in the past one and a half days. It was now evening, and Calista had been in the middle of paperwork previously but decided to go for a walk to try to clear her head.

General Asthar was alive-all thanks to Azalea. Even if it _was _a mistake on that nature mage's part since Asthar wasn't actually needed for such a prophecy involving Calista to come true, it was still nice that Asthar was around again with that jolly smile of his.

Right now, though, she noticed that General Asthar had been..thinking. A lot. He was pretty much lost in his thoughts. She wondered if he was still irked about the fact that his resurrection was a 'mistake' and all. She hoped not-without Asthar around, she wasn't sure if Therius would be alright with trying to make sure Lazulis Castle was defended from any Draven or Azalea breaking in and terrorizing the heck out of everyone. She was sure that the General being around would probably help Therius a bit, that his mentor was there to help him if there was something he wasn't sure about.

Hearing something, she turned around only to see a woman with long black hair and red ends, black cat ears sticking up out of the hair. She was wearing a very revealing outfit, the v-neck of her black top going down to the middle of her stomach. Her pants were tight fitting and had wide slits on the sides, and wore black high heeled boots. She wore red and black armor upon her shoulder and knees, her red eyes looking over the brim of her glasses.

Calista blinked, watching a black cat tail with a red tip swishing behind the woman. Who _was _this person? Where in the world did she come from...?

It was then that Calista realized that this cat lady was in deep conversation with Draven-and this conversation wasn't going well.

"Don't make up any lies, Draven. I saw you with that minstrel woman." The cat lady hissed, her hands on her hips as she glared at Draven, who was standing opposite her. "Don't get distracted-you have a mission to do. That's my message for you."

Draven glared back at her. "And don't," He snapped back, _"don't_ you dare speak to_ me_ like that, Kresa. We're not even of the same rank, so don't patronize me for what I do. So what if I wish to help out a pregnant minstrel woman? Anything wrong with it?"

"Don't get distracted." Kresa repeated, still glaring back at him. "You do your work. I do my own. And therefore, without distraction, we both would then have no need to confront each other like this so often. You get it?"

Draven merely nodded, before Kresa teleported away. The manipulator paused, before also teleporting away as well.

"Calista?"

Calista turned to see Zael, approaching her.

"Um..." Zael paused, fidgeting slightly, before speaking. "You mind if we talk?"

* * *

Therius stared at the reports of the deaths of Calista's descendants.

"All of their had that one same witness...?"

General Asthar nodded solemnly. "Yes, Sir Therius. A man with black hair and red eyes...that was what is reported." Something else written on one of the particular reports caught his eye, and he picked it up. "This is interesting...Draven was here at the time of Calista's mother's death. And then later on, it says here that Calista's mother's body...was revealed to be taken from her own tomb."

Therius nodded quietly. "So Draven was telling the truth, after all about using Calista's late mother as a marionette..."

Asthar blinked at this. "You assumed that he merely used someone else's body and made it look like Calista's mother?"

"I was hoping so, General, so that I could reassure her that the dead were not disturbed." Therius paused, before moving back to the subject of the black-haired man. "This man that was at every death...he would have to existed for hundreds of years! And in order to live that long...he would need to be immortal."

"So, in that case, we are dealing with servants of a master that cannot die." Asthar bit his lower lip. "This was something I never expected..."

Therius paused, before speaking again. "After seeing human marionettes and plant ogres, General, I think we should expect more of the unexpected."

"Agreed, Sir Therius..." He paused, glancing outside the window. "Night is approaching. How is Lord Zesha taking the news about that message?"

"He seemed to take it calmly, General, but I feel that with Draven constantly haunting him with his illusions and the fact that Lord Zesha is still mourning his brother's death, that it is possible that he may crack from all the pressure."

"I see..." Asthar paused, before speaking again. "Sir Therius, can you find Lord Zesha for me? I'll need to speak with him..."

"Of course, General." Therius turned on his heel and left the room. Asthar let out a quiet breath, closing his eyes for a moment to try to think.

Unfortunately, his thoughts were interrupted by someone familiar.

"Hello, General Asthar. I'm glad we can meet again."

Before General Asthar could take out his sword, both his arms were suddenly restrained by some sort of rope. Opening his eyes, it came to his attention that it wasn't ropes that were restraining him-no, they were _vines. _He then soon realized that Azalea was standing a few paces away from him, facing him.

"What do you want, Miss Azalea?" Asthar half-growled, struggling to free himself from his restraints.

Azalea pushed a lock of black hair behind her ear, before speaking. "I want to know, Asthar. Where is the book of fate?"

Asthar gave her look. "Do you actually believe I would know where it is? I've never heard of it before you mentioned it the first time we met."

"Is that so?" She frowned a bit at this. "Well then, that makes my search more difficult..." She seemed to now be ignoring Asthar, trying to think. "What to do, then? Does that mean I'll have to tear the Lazulis Castle library apart?" She then grinned a bit. "I think Draven is in charge of that. That is, if he's already done arguing with Kresa and haunting Zesha for the fiftieth time in a row."

Asthar, meanwhile, tried to think. If he was stuck here with Azalea, Draven was probably off going and doing what he was usually doing-haunting Zesha, that is. He had to get out of here, temporarily subdue his captor and get to Zesha before too much harm happened.

But how?

* * *

"I-I'm fine, Lord Zesha."

Therius caught the voice of Calista echoing through the hallways. She sounded like she was crying. The white knight hesitated, moving closer to where they were so that he could both see and hear them. Calista was standing in front of Zesha, burying her face into her hands as she tried to wipe tears from her face. Zesha seemed to frown a bit, before taking out a handkerchief.

"Erm...here." He handed the handkerchief to Calista, who gratefully took it. "You're not alright if you're sobbing and moping over something. What happened? Is it because of the prophecy, or...?"

"It's you."

Zesha blinked. He seemed confused that a human would actually be concerned for him. "What...?"

"It's just..." Calista wiped her eyes again with his handkerchief, before continuing. "You're mourning over the loss of someone closest to you. And then on top of that, you have to run the Gurak Continent _and_ deal with the illusions Draven keeps throwing at you. It's not okay that you have all this weight on your shoulders and that I can't do anything to help you."

The Gurak King let out a grim chuckle at this. "You're helping more than everyone else back at the Gurak Continent, whether you believe so or not. For once, I find it strangely refreshing to be around people that actually pity me, try to sympathize. Did I really sink so low...?"

Calista half-glared at him as she heard this. "The only thing that is 'low' about you is that you try to so hard to keep yourself above water when it's obvious that you're drowning, but you don't run for help until you get to the point that it's almost too late to do anything."

Zesha went silent, saying nothing, before Therius heard Draven's voice come into existence.

"How _sweet._ A heart-to-heart talk between the King of the Gurak and the Countess of Lazulis Island. Don't you think it's sweet?"

Therius went out of his hiding place, taking out his sword as he went to stand with Zesha and Calista. "What do you want, Belladonna?" The white knight spoke, glaring slightly at Draven. He heard Zesha take out his swords as he continued speaking. "Trying to find the book of fate?"

"Precisely so." The manipulator responded, summoning a few marionettes by his side. "And the marionettes will soon 'dance' and I won't have to do the work. Why? Because Zesha will find it for me, right?"

Zesha seemed taken aback. "And how do you intend on persuading me to find this 'book of fate' by using aggression against me?"

Draven laughed a little at this, a smirk appearing on his face. "Who ever said I wanted to use aggresion to make you find it? _Manipulation _is the better way to put it, in my opinion."

Therius didn't hesitate to rush at Draven, to slash at him with his sword. The manipulator side-stepped the blow, taking out a sword as he made a gesture with the other arm. Immediately, the marionettes swarmed Therius, the white knight distracted as he tried to fight them off all at once. Zesha rushed at the manipulator, slashing at him but the blow was blocked by the other's sword. Calista, meanwhile, prepared a Shining spell, shooting it at Draven just as Draven was able to shove Zesha aside. The manipulator was hit with the spell, sending him flying into a nearby pillar.

Therius, after taking down the marionettes, walked over to Draven, pointing his sword at the manipulator's throat.

"Tell us everything you know."

Draven's eyes glowed silver, and Therius was pulled back suddenly by chains, restraining him by the wrists and ankles. The older man snarled, glaring at Therius.

_"I don't think so..." _He then transformed. His height grew a little shorter, his hair turning black and his braid becoming thinner as his clothing changed to black armor.

Calista then realized, after the transformation was complete, of what Draven had shiftshaped into.

It was a dark version of none other than Sir Therius, his appearance the complete opposite-instead of white, they would be black, as if he was possessed. The Countess of Lazulis couldn't help but stare in disbelief that something like this was possible. The dark copycat of Therius stood, before taking out a sword akin to Therius' own, the blade of it also glittering black. His eyes were a metallic silver, as if they were blades hungering for blood.

_"Let's put it this way." _The Therius/Draven figure spoke, a mangled garble of Therius' and Draven's voices combined into a dissonant harmony. _"Show me the book of fate and no harm will come to you..."_

Zesha gripped both his swords tightly, before rushing at the Therius/Draven/whatever-it-was and slashing at it. The Therius look-alike rolled out of the way, before taking out a dagger from his belt and throwing it at the Gurak King, who narrowly dodged it. The two rushed at each other, the clashing of blades echoing through the courtyard.

Calista shot a light spell at Draven, who dodged. Instead, the spell hit Therius' chains, releasing him from being restrained. Draven noticed this, but instead of deciding to re-chain Therius, he decided to transform back to his normal self, sending out more marionettes towards Calista and Therius.

"Calista!" Therius immediately picked up his sword again (he had dropped it earlier when he was held back) and started slashing and hacking wildly at the marionettes with Zesha assisting him. Draven watched, a frown on his face.

"Oh...they'll be completely wrecked after this fight if I keep doing this. I might as well change tactics." He then summoned a dark sphere of energy, before shooting it towards Therius, who didn't notice.

Zesha, did, though.

_"Out of the way!" _Zesha pushed Therius out of the way, expecting to be hit.

Instead, a large, transparent blue barrier formed around him, sending the spell flying back at Draven, who was sent flying as soon as he got hit. The manipulator landed on the ground painfully, just as Azalea appeared out of nowhere, helping Draven up. The manipulator tried to brush her off, but she appeared to insist on the action.

Zesha blinked, looking around himself as the barrier vanished.

"Who cast that spell...?" He then turned as soon as he saw a flickering figure from the corner of his eye. "You-"

Zepha looked back at him. Despite the transparency of his figure, Zesha could easily see the stab wound that Yurick made in his brother's armor. Zepha then turned towards Draven and Azalea, before taking out two swords-the North Wing and the South Wing.

_"Anyone who dares threaten my brother will pay dearly. Especially when coming from filthy humans like you." _He snapped, glaring at them. Azalea and Draven both exchanged glances, before teleporting away.

Calista and Therius had no idea what to do, what to say. Their unexpected savior was none other than their old enemy, of all people. Zesha seemed more shocked than the two-he dropped both swords, before rushing towards his brother.

"Zepha!" He embraced his transparent brother tightly, closely-and then nearly recoiled almost immediately. "Your body...it's cold..."

Zepha gave him the flicker of a smile. _"I am dead, brother. What do you expect, warmth coming from a heart that beats no more?"_

Zesha bit his lower lip, nodding quietly. "You have a point..."

Calista paused, before speaking up. "Erm...how did you..."

Zepha let out a quiet breath, sheathing both his swords before summoning Zesha's swords to his side. _"When I died, I cast a spell on Zesha and his swords. If he ever was in great danger I would be there to protect him. This only applies to anything that could be fatal-such as that human's dark element spell, for example. So even if I am dead, I can still fight..."_

Therius nodded quietly in understand. "I see..."

Zesha paused, before speaking. "Brother...is that all there is?"

Zepha shook his head. _"No. I know where the book of fate is, too. And I know those humans are after it. I've been guarding this for the past while, but I might as well tell you. Lord Zangurak, he...found the book of fate whilst unifying the Gurak Continent, but chose not to read it, saying that though it would help him become a god, it would not bring the Gurak prosperity. I hid it for him, deep in the depths of the Gurak Castle library, and it has remained there since. I can show you where it is-" _He then glanced at Calista and Therius, _"Provided that those two help you destroy it instead of taking it for themselves..."_

Calista shook her head. "Zepha...we're not going to do that. You have my word, and Sir Therius' word as well."

Zepha kept his gaze locked on them for a moment, like a cat about to strike, but then finally relented.

_"Very well, then. Follow me."_


	5. Struggling

**_5. Struggling_**

* * *

Draven never listened to Kresa's message.

Really, what was the point? It was nice hanging around Miss Leia-she didn't mind his company and he didn't mind hers. Win-win situation. Right? And besides, it wasn't even like it was making him do any worse in his mission. Go around scaring people (more specifically Zesha), then come to see Leia and keep her company and help her in whatever way he could. It seemed like the perfect balance.

The facade he'd put on for her in the form of a messenger that worked for the Empire, though, was slowly weakening.

"Draven?" Leia looked surprised to see him today. "What happened? You've got another cut..."

Draven winced a bit at the cut on the back of his right hand. It had reopened during that earlier fight with Zesha and the others... He tried to smile, to cover up the pain as another lie slipped out of his mouth.

"Cut my hand when I banged it against a wall earlier." He lied, sitting down beside her on the small couch. He had been visiting Leia so frequently now that she let him stay the night at her house. The two had talked with each other, and told each other many things, and Draven had to admit that this was the one living person he might actually have taken a liking to. And she was pretty, no doubt about that. But the best part about her was that she was compassionate towards him, something that no one in his past offered to him. "I just wanted to see you so badly, Leia. I wasn't watching where I was running..."

Leia frowned at this. "Draven, you should be more careful. I..." She faltered for a moment, her one visible green eye making eye contact with both his dark amber eyes. "I'm worried for you, and you're just going and getting hurt and-"

Draven hung his head a little bit. "I'm sorry, Leia..." He let out a quiet breath. "I don't want you to be worried for me all the time like this. I mean, you've done so much for me already, and I find it hard to pay you back for it all. The last thing I want you to do is worry about me so much..."

"Draven. Listen." She said it in a tone that made him go silent at once. "Draven...your help here, your concern for me, it's all more than I can ask for. Letting you stay here for the next month until you go back to the Empire is the least I can do for you."

Draven paused, his eyes averted from hers for a moment, before making eye contact with her again. "Leia," He started, taking one of her hands in his cautiously, quietly- "All of this is more than I can ask for. All that you've done for me-you've given me a place to sleep, food to eat, and you're the first person that actually trusts me-there are a lot of people out there that don't like me for the work I do besides being a messenger..."

He stopped there, realizing his mistake at the last part.

Draven had _not _meant to hint that he did things other than 'being a messenger for the Empire and such.' Unfortunately for him, Leia noticed it.

"Draven?"

He winced a bit, turning his attention back towards her. "Yes?"

"What sort of work do you do that would cause people to dislike you?" Leia seemed curious about the whole thing.

"Um..." He hesitated for a moment. "A-are you sure you want to know?"

"Of course..."

_I can't let her know about..about...that..._

So, he made up a lie instead.

"I-I work at a mortuary in the Empire, when I'm not needed to carry messages. I deal with the corpses themselves-make them look pretty for their funerals and all. Of course, people wouldn't exactly like one that deals with corpses..."

Well...it was technically a half-lie. Draven did like to deal with dressing up the corpses, making them look pretty...that is, when he wasn't burdened with work.

Leia seemed to pause, thinking about it, before smiling at him. "I see. My father was a mortician before, so I was bullied as a child for being the mortician's daughter. Perhaps I could think of looking into that as a line of work, since being a minstrel woman is pretty much out of the question, now..."

Draven smiled back. "That could work..."

He really hated lying to her like this. But if she were to learn of what he really did, he wasn't sure if she could accept him in that way.

She might even hate him. That was the one thing he feared the most.

* * *

Therius, Zesha and Calista quickly helped out General Asthar, before letting him tag along for finding the book of fate. Zepha didn't seem happy that another human was with them, but he relented to this despite his dislike of humans.

Zepha hadn't appeared to change much since dying-it was obvious that he had his hatred for humans, and that right now he found the presences of Therius, Calista and Asthar annoying, but once Zesha had tried to explain to him about the peace treaty he seemed be slightly better about it all. If there was one thing that had changed about Zepha, it was that he seemed to have slightly less hatred for humans and that he seemed to have gained some sense of humour-at least, that was what Calista thought.

Zesha and Zepha were walking ahead of Asthar, Therius and Calista, the two conversing with each other. Zepha had sent all of them into some sort of dimensional place, as Zepha told them it was where the book of fate was located.

"Brother?"

Zepha looked towards his twin. _"Yes, Zesha?"_

"Are you alright?"

His older twin gave him a small look.

_"Alright? About what? The peace treaty? You needing to get the book of fate? Myself being dead? What?"_

"Um..." Zesha paused awkwardly, before finishing. "All of that, actually."

_"Do you want me to blurt it all out at once, or one at a time?"_

Zesha gave him a look. "Brother, you know what I mean."

The deceased brother chuckled a bit, grinning wryly. _"I know, I know, I'm merely teasing you, brother." _He then let out a breath, before speaking. _"I will admit that as much as I wanted to see the Gurak see their glory not in this way, perhaps things may even get better than I expected, but the future of the Gurak Continent lies on you, brother, and those around you. All I ask of that is to be careful where you tread politically. As for you requiring the book of fate, well, I shouldn't be surprised that the person who wishes to take over this entire world decides to try to look for it now. After all, both Lazulis and the Gurak Continent are weakened from the war of the Outsider. It is logical to attack enemies, sometimes, at their weakest..."_

Zepha turned towards Zesha, facing him completely. The look on his face was something more forlorn.

_"Of course, this would only bring more torment upon you and our people..." _Zepha let out a shaky breath, looking downwards. _"I know you've been suffering from nightmares and hallucinations. And it hurts because I can't be there to help you get through them every single night it happens, because of the fact that I'm not alive and I'm completely dead." _

Zesha winced at this. He never really thought about how much it could hurt being dead. Of course he never really thought about it-he wasn't the one who was dead, after all-but it hurt that badly for his brother, and it hurt Zesha to know that his brother was still in some sort of pain. Zesha embraced his brother closely, quietly.

"Zepha..."

Calista glanced at the twins quietly. Zesha didn't know what to say, what to do, in order to comfort his twin. For a good many years of his life he was a merciless soldier, not a king. She imagined that he never experienced much sympathy or anything, because of that war between humans and Gurak. How was he supposed to know how to comfort someone if no one ever really had tried to comfort him?

Zepha smiled weakly at Zesha.

_"I'm proud of you for taking up the position of King of the Gurak after Lord Zangurak was killed. Lord Zangurak himself is pleased to see that. Of course, he's not impressed by the fact that you managed to have a peace treaty with the humans, but at least the Gurak Continent is still together."_

Zesha smiled back at him quietly.

"Thank you, brother."

"Zepha?" Therius had spoken up, glancing ahead of them. "Is that...?"

Zepha looked at where Therius was looking at, before nodding. In front of them was a pedestal, with a large, dusty black and white tome resting on it.

_"Yes, Sir Therius...that is the book of fate..." _Zepha seemed to half-float, half-walk over to the pedestal, before taking the book of fate into his hands, before turning and handing it over to Zesha. _"My job of guarding it is supposed to be done from here, but seeing as I cast that charm on you, brother...I am to remain with you always like this until your death. But being dead, I can't exactly be there all the time in a material form such as right now."  
_

Zesha bit his lowed lip, looking down at the book of fate in his hands.

"So...I can see you sometimes?"

The other nodded. _"Yes. But when you cannot see me, remember that I am with you always, even if it doesn't look like it. Remember that, Zesha."_

Before Zesha could say anything, someone interrupted them.

"Oh, how sweet...brotherly moments. How touching."

Therius gritted his teeth as he turned to see none other than Draven as he took out his sword. "You..."

Zepha looked infuriated. _"How did you get in...?"_

Draven shrugged a little. "Does it really matter? All I ask is that you hand over the book of fate and no one gets hurt."

"As if we would!" Calista snapped back, starting to summon a Shining spell. "You're not getting the book of fate, Draven!"

Asthar took out his sword. "Mr. Belladonna, I would rather suggest that you stop this at once before you cause any harm to yourself or us."

Draven smirked, summoning his marionettes with a snap of his fingers.

"After what you did to my beloved marionettes last time? I had to sew up many wounds on their pretty flesh." He hissed softly, though he seemed to be eerily smiling at the same time. "Mark my words, all of you. I will obtain the book of fate and have Lady Calista as my next marionette in my collection."

Zesha took out both swords, glaring straight into Draven's eyes.

"Don't think you'll get us that easily."


	6. Manipulator

_**6. Manipulator**_

"You're outnumbered." Zesha spoke up, taking a step forward. "It's the five of us against one of you. Why don't you just surrender!?"

Draven merely smiled at him. "Numbers do not always win the battle, Lord Zesha..." He then transformed into a familiar figure, a young man with long, ash-blond hair tied back in a ponytail. Calista nearly let a breath escape her as she stared at the now-transformed Draven.

He looked exactly like Lord Jirall now, from the face to the outfit to the way he walked. He smirked, twirling a sword in one hand casually.

"My muse," He spoke to Calista, Draven's and Jirall's voices mixed together, "We were completely meant to be together. But yet you always looked at me with such scorn..._always_..." He appeared to snarl at her as he said 'always' to her.

Calista snarled a bit, summoning a Shining spell and launching it at him. "How much do you know about me!?"

Draven dodged, coming up close to her and glaring straight into her eyes.

_"Everything." _

His hiss was through the voice of the late Lord Zangurak, having transformed to look like him-Zan Lance and all. He knocked her aside with the Zan Lance, before transforming into the dark version of Therius once again. ___"I know who you have loved, what you tried to protect, your failures...everything!"_

Calista's eyes widened as she gazed at the dark version of her love. She couldn't believe it, that they knew everything about her. That, however, was when Zepha grabbed Draven and smashed him down upon the ground, pointing his sword at Draven's throat as Draven transformed back to normal. The manipulator smirked, before using a dark magic spell to send Zepha flying, the book of fate's guardian hitting the ground.

Zesha rushed over to him, but Zepha waved him off. _"Don't worry about me-I'm already dead..."_ Zepha muttered. _"You cannot kill someone who is dead, after all."_

Draven got up, an eerie grin still plastered on his face as he spoke. "That is so, Zepha, but who said I couldn't manipulate the spirits and souls like I can with corpses?" He snapped his fingers, and chains snared Zepha by the ankles, pulling him away from his twin and towards Draven. Zesha grabbed onto Zepha's arm, trying to pull him back but he was forced to let go as the force of the opposition was too strong. Draven smiled, before shooting Zepha with dark magic. Immediately, Zepha's eyes turned silver, his body shuddering like the movements of Draven's marionettes.

_"Marionette?"_ The now-mind-controlled Zepha turned towards Draven, who pointed at Calista. _"Attack."_

Immediately Zepha rushed at Calista, summoning an ice spell. Calista tried to back away, starting to cast a Shining spell.

"Zepha-Zepha!" Calista shouted, shooting at him with the Shining spell. "Snap out of it!" Zepha dodged, before shooting the ice spell towards her.

Therius rushed forwards, holding up his shield in time to guard Calista against the spell, though it sent him flying. Meanwhile, Zesha and General Asthar both tried to fight off the controlled Zepha, but Draven appeared to be able to control him quite easily with a simple flick of the wrist or other various gestures with his arm. This fight wasn't easy-that was definitely something.

Things only got worse moments later.

_"Marionette Frenzy!" _

Draven's marionettes appeared, clawing at everyone, forcing them back. Calista ducked once, tripping and falling, before she looked up and exactly how bad all of it was. Panic and fright bubbled through her, and she brought her hands together, muttering something under her breath, before white surrounding her.

The white burst after a moment, throwing all evil away.

The light eventually faded after a moment.

"Zepha!" Zesha rushed over to Zepha, who nearly collapsed on the spot. He was no longer chained, nor controlled. "Are you alright?"

Zesha's twin nodded, leaning on Zesha temporarily. _"I'm...I'm fine..."_

A hoarse groan came from nearby, and they turned to see Draven, chained at the wrists and ankles just like a marionette. He appeared to be weakened, injuries spotting his body, and he hung his head in defeat, trying miserably to prevent anyone from seeing tears stream down his face.

_"But I just..."_ He was trying to say, his voice coming out in a whisper. _"I just...wanted to play..."_

Calista motioned for the others to stay back, walking up to Draven and taking his face into her hands, getting him to look up.

"Please, speak. You know what I've been through..."

Draven tried to loose himself from the bonds, but he winced in pain, eventually giving up.

"...Memories." He finally rasped, pausing before continuing. "The master told me to... to go through every single thing, learn every single thing about you...and those involved with you..." He coughed a bit, before speaking again. "I meant to...scar you earlier so you would have second thoughts of going after me. So I could get the book of fate..." He glanced away for a moment but then looked straight into Callista's eyes, trying to blink away tears. "I'm sorry for saying this, but you are pretty...no doubt about it..."

Calista began to heal him using her magic, confused slightly by why he would apologize for such a compliment at first, before remembering his earlier rants about how he had wished for her to become a marionette of his. "Please, don't die..."

Draven hung his head, averting his eyes from Callista's own as he glanced at the marionettes that he had created, the marionettes that were once Calista's ancestors but no longer. "I must be absolutely insane to be so desperate...desperate to do something like this. Don't you think so...?"

Calista seemed sad to hear this, that he had been so willing to go to such lengths to fufill the need for companionship. She tried to calm him down.

"Draven, there is always someone to love you... And, that is the thing. I-I'm not ready to die... I want to know my people are safe. I don't want to be a marionette, I don't want to die for your master..."

Draven's face contorted into complete rage.

_"As if that's anywhere close to true!" _He snapped, the tone of his voice completely imitating Jirall's own. _"I used to be in a noble family-I was only born for the sake of necessity! No one loves me!"_

"Draven! As if I didn't know Jirall's enter most thoughts. But-but that doesn't apply to you! You're only what, like, thirty!? Don't throw away the rest of your life!"

Draven looked away from Callista, shame overtaking his face as he hung his head in shame.

"I'm...sorry..." He let out a sob escape his throat.

Calista shook her head quietly, before making eye contact with him again. "You shouldn't be. I know how it feels to give up hope. But at this point you and your master are taking away the one thing that has kept me going- my future. I want to be happy and I want everyone else to be as well. Including you, even."

Draven's eyes widened, before he suddenly passed out. Several marionettes appeared, each of them trying to tend to his wounds and to try to keep him standing upright, though it was tad awkward to do with their continuously bending limbs. Calista tried to help them, but it didn't really work so well.

Zesha seemed to frown slightly, and he helped the marionettes hold up Draven briefly while Zepha straightened himself.

_"The book of fate is finally found." _ Zepha let out a sigh. _"And so my work here is accomplished..."_

Zesha's eyes widened as he let go of the marionettes. "Zepha...does that mean...does that mean I won't be able to see you again?"

The twin shook his head. _"That is not so. You will see me again, though I cannot keep a material form all the time..." _Zepha held up his arm, and Zesha stared at it as it began to fade. _"Once I have regained enough strength I can bring up a physical form again. Though i suppose that will not be for some time."_

Calista bit her lower lip as she saw Zesha tremble slightly. She was worried that if Zepha left like this, Zesha wouldn't be recovering any better from his brother's death. She knew that the two were close-no one had to tell her she just-she just knew. And she knew what it was like to lose someone close to her, too.

Zepha smiled at Zesha, touching the side of his face with one hand. _"Brother. You do not need to mourn for me for so long. The time has come to move on, to carry on as life must go. You may remember, but mourn no longer. I am always with you, watching you, within your heart. And...you have more to remember me by than just swords. We are twins, after all."_

Zesha embraced Zepha tightly, trying to restrain tears. "I'll...do my best. For you. For our people..."

Zepha embraced Zesha quietly, gently, as he continued to fade.

_"I am always with you, brother...do not forget..."_

Zepha faded completely. Zesha lowered his arms to his sides, knowing that Zepha was no longer there to hold. He paused, thinking of his brother's words as he repeated them aloud.

"You have more to remember me by than just swords..." His eyes then widened, before he held out a hand. Immediately a spark of flame appeared, flickering a bit.

Therius' eyes widened in surprise.

"Lord Zesha...you're able to use magic!"

Zesha blinked as he made the flames go away, only to replace them with icy cold mist.

"That...that appears to be so..." He let out a brief chuckle at this. "Brother...thank you..."

Calista smiled. At least something was turning out right.

Zesha, King of the Gurak, would no longer grieve.

* * *

"General Asthar?"

General Asthar turned to Sir Therius, who was watching the unconscious Draven in the prison cell. The two were currently in the dungeon.

"Yes, Sir Therius?"

Therius paused, before speaking up. "Are you sure Draven won't be able to escape that easily? He is a powerful mage, as we discovered when fighting him earlier..."

Asthar smiled a little at him, hoping to reassure his former pupil. "Do not worry, Sir Therius. This cell is specially made to drain the inhabitant of his magic ability, so I don't think he'll be able to escape anytime soon..." He then paused, catching the smell of something. "Sir Therius, do you smell anything...?"

Therius shook his head. "I do not, General...is there something the matter?"

Asthar paused, before shaking his head. "Never mind. I suppose it was just my imagination." He lied. The scent was getting stronger, now, beckoning him to follow it like he did once before. _Lilies... _"Excuse me, Sir Therius. I believe I will go get some rest..."

Therius nodded quietly, watching Asthar leave. The once-dead General walked down the hallways of Lazulis Castle, before he quickly left the castle unnoticed.

The journey to Stargazer's Tower did take long-Asthar had finally gotten an idea as of where things were in Lazulis City-and he arrived quite quickly to see that like the Lazulis Castle Courtyard, Stargazer's Tower was bursting with flora and other plant life. Sitting on the steps, with those eyes of the darkest dirt, hair of the blackest rose and lips of the reddest rose was none other than the woman he had encountered twice before, making this encounter the third one.

Azalea smiled slightly, raising a cup of tea before taking a sip.

"You're _late,_ General Asthar."

Asthar didn't move from where he was standing.

"I wasn't given an invitation in advance, Miss Azalea. I did not know until just now."

She shrugged.

"I probably wouldn't have started without you, anyway. Would you like a cup of tea, General?"

He paused, before walking towards her.

"Of course."

* * *

**Author note: ...Ack. Long delay in updates...apologies...(facedesk) Hopefully-HOPEFULLY the next update will be sooner, but no guarantees...thanks for reading and for your patience! XD **


	7. Confessions

**_7. Confessions_**

"Sir Therius?"

"Yes?"

"The prisoner Draven has broken out of the dungeon and went into the city!"

"What? And you let him escape!?"

"He was too powerful, sir, with those corpses of his to back him up!"

"...Go after him immediately."

* * *

Draven knew that he was going to really get in trouble for this, but Leia's screams in his head were what was guiding him through the city and towards her house. He could sense her-he always had a good idea of whose presence was nearby whenever he was alone, but the closer he got to someone, the better he could sense what was going on with them-in danger. He knew she was pregnant. If any harm fell to her or the unborn child...

Draven gritted his teeth at this as he used his marionettes to attack a few Lazulis guards that were trying to block his way. He had to get to her-

-and the next thing he knew was that he was screaming curses as he grabbed one intruder by the throat and threw him into a wall, before he turned and shot a dark magic spell at the other intruder, barely missing his head.

_"Get out of here!"_ Draven screamed, taking out a sword and pointing it at the intruder. "All of you damned pests, out! If I find you running around in here causing harm to Miss Leia, I'll-I'll make sure you die gruesome deaths! Now _out!"_

The intruders fled, rushing away. Draven put his sword away, before rushing into the kitchen to find Leia, who was staggering to her feet, her arms covering her abdomen. Her mask was discarded on the ground, probably pulled off by the intruders from earlier. She looked up at him briefly, her visible green eye widening in shock, before looking downwards.

"Draven..."

Draven rushed over to her. "Leia..." He saw the stab wound in her shoulder, scratches and bruises at her arms, and a noticeably bleeding head wound. "Did they get anywhere close to your abdomen?"

Leia shook her head. "They didn't, I made sure of that..." She kept trying to turn her face away from Draven, but he was concerned and he had to check-what if they had given her a black eye or bloody lip? Eventually he was able to see her face-

-and now he knew why exactly she wore that mask.

Leia's left side of her face was heavily scarred. The former minstrel woman looked away from him, before slowly explaining.

"I was attacked in my teens. That's why my face is like this..." She let out a quiet sigh. "I'm lucky not to have lost my eye."

He hesitated, gazing at her gently, before speaking.

"I think it's pretty. I mean," the words slipped out of his mouth before he could stop it, "You're pretty..."

Leia reached up and gently touched the left side of her face, a bit bewildered at his words.

"R-Really? I always thought I looked hideous with these scars..."

Draven nodded quietly as he spoke. "Yes. You're pretty, Leia. You're not...ugly. Not like _me."_ He went to grab some bandages from a nearby drawer, intent on wrapping the head and shoulder wounds. "You've probably heard of what I've done by now. You know what harm I've done, what I'm capable of..."

Leia frowned, stepping forwards and taking his hand just as he turned to her with the bandages in hand.

"Don't say that!" She shook her head at his statement. "You don't know how I will react, and I would never be afraid of you! You, a perfect stranger, was willing to help me, a pregnant widow, try to get started on her new life. That just tells me that you're a good man!"

Draven just shook his head, his eyes averted from hers as he worked on bandaging the shoulder wound as best as he could.

"I have nearly driven mad the King of the Gurak. I_ preserved_ the descendants of Lady Calista Arganan for the past twenty years of my life and made them into marionettes! I'm not a good man, Miss Leia! I-I'm...I'm...not..." That was when he nearly succumbed to tears again. They were pricking at the back of his eyes, threatening to spill over as he kept trying to bandage the shoulder wound.

Leia frowned and carefully reached up with her right hand, touching his cheek gently so he could look at her.

"Draven... Everyone does things they end up regretting, some do horrible things. I've done things I'm not proud of, but the point is is that we can't let it decide who we are," she said softly, allowing her hand to gently slip from his face and tenderly rest over his heart. "I mean, you went from that to standing here comforting a pregnant woman and helping her. Whether or not you believe it, Draven, you are a good man..."

Draven nearly lost all composure at this, putting his hand where hers was on his chest and bring it to his face, covering his eyes as he nearly started crying.

He had lied to her so much to stay in her home, and even though all of that was revealed, all she still had to offer was kindness, compassion. He'd shown that he could be untrustworthy at times, obviously-but she still trusted him, she still did...

...And that compassion and kindness was what undid him, made the tears flow out.

Leia felt her own tears prickling at her eyes as she stroked Draven's cheek, trying to comfort him the best she could.

"Shh... I'm sorry..."

Draven shook his head a little, his sobs slowing down as he let go of her hand, reaching for the bandages.

"You have no need to be sorry...it's me that should be..."

Leia shook her head in disagreement.

"No, I dug to far... Maybe you should sit down for a bit...?" She kept her hand pressed soothingly against his cheek.

Draven nodded, finally letting go of her hand before sitting beside her, starting to bandage her wounds again as he spoke up.

"Thank you, Leia...I never thought I'd hear anyone ever...say such things to me..." His voice was laced with still a bit of sadness, remorse for all his lies.

Leia linked her fingers with his loosely, still trying to comfort him.

"But...I meant every word, Draven."

Draven looked surrpised for a moment, and then faintly smiled at her, holding her hand even tighter.

"Thank you..."

Therius and the knights would be surprised later to find Leia defending Draven and telling them what exactly had occurred at her house with the intruders and such.

* * *

Asthar honestly felt that it was extremely odd that he was just sitting here at Stargazer's Tower, having tea with someone who nearly strangled his former pupil, had ensnared Asthar himself in vines one time, and had also made the Courtyard plants overgrow.

However, she didn't appear to be in the mood for killing him, which was strange. The tea wasn't poisoned, nor the rest of the food, and they had not talked at all besides asking each other to pass each other napkins, or more tea, or something.

...Yes, it was awkward with the long pauses of silence. At least they weren't killing each other, though.

"Be happy I'm not killing you this time."

It was Azalea that spoke, putting her teacup down.

"I arranged this little meeting myself. I heard that you defeated Draven." She seemed to look unsurprised at this. "The manipulator was always too much into those corpses of his. I'm not surprised that you and the others managed to turn the tables in your favour."

Asthar frowned slightly at this, putting his teacup down.

"Miss Azalea, may I ask of exactly how much dislike you have towards Mr. Belladonna?"

Azalea gave him a look.

"I was Draven's fiance once upon a time, General." Her voice turned into ice completely at this. "Had he not murdered his own parents and then fled for the seven years afterward before we were forced back together three years ago-not romantically of course, but in each other's company-by serving our master, I would be married to him already." She scowled a bit at this, her hands clenching into fists. "I am life while he is the preserver of those that are no longer living. Of course we would dislike each other so much."

Asthar winced at this. "My apologies, Miss Azalea, for bringing up any old wounds."

She laughed bitterly at this, looking away from him. "Wounds?" She spoke, standing and turning to face him. "They're nothing but bitter tastes in my mouth now. Nothing would open my heart so foolishly as I opened up to Draven that time ago."

Asthar shook his head.

"I beg to differ."

"What? And what would give you the right to say that?"

She looked up at him, somewhat bewildered.

Asthar stood his ground.

"Miss Azalea, you say your heart is so closed. It may be closed to humanity, but I see it obvious that you have a deep love for nature, for life, and.." He paused, standing to face her, before finishing. "If your heart is closed to the rest of us human beings, why is it exactly that you raised me from the dead and that you have not killed me yet? You've had many chances in the past, but you never completely threatened my life during those times."

She appeared to wince at this, as if someone had just broken her last line defense. Therefore, it would force her to confess as of why she brought him back to the world of the living. He hated to push so much, but he had to know-otherwise there was no way that she was going to tell him why she resurrected him.

"I resurrected you because of a mistake on my part." She muttered, her eyes flashing. "Do you not already remember me telling you that!?"

Her eyes told him otherwise.

"I think you brought me back to life because of something other than that."

There was silence between the two of them, giving each other hard stares. And finally, after what felt like several moments, Azalea spoke again, albeit slower.

"The reason I brought you back was because..." She bit her lower lip, obviously in discomfort about revealing the truth. "General Asthar, I assume you know of the prophecy? Of killing an entire bloodline and having the book of fate in hand to rule the world?"

He nodded once. "I do."

"...I had two reasons for doing so. One of them was that I believe that you can help stop the prophecy from happening."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"You heard me perfectly, General." She frowned a bit. "I dislike death, as you may already know. Killing off an entire bloodline, I feel, is not fit for one to become ruler of the world if such a position is truly needed to keep the world in order. And you, with your intellect, can help stop it. Of course, if my master knew of that reason, he would surely have me killed. That is, if you don't kill me first."

There was silence, before Asthar spoke again, taking in the information slowly.

"And the other reason...?"

She looked away from him briefly, before making eye contact with him.

"I heard of your research." She started. "To save the land from decaying. Of course, you weren't there completely to finish it-others carried it out for you after your death, as you probably know by now. I've never heard of anyone quite like you who cared so much for the land. Humans usually just try to use it for their own ends until the resources are out, never thinking about how finite those resources are. Selfish beings, unworthy of living unless they care for the land they live upon...except for you. I admit I have an admiration for those that care for the land, the nature..."

Asthar paused, before speaking.

"I see." He paused once again, before continuing. "Miss Azalea. If you truly don't wish to carry out your master's plan, you can help us stop him. There is still time to foil his plot and prevent that prophecy from happening. You have the choice to serve him or to work with us to stop him..."

She shook her head.

"I do not. No longer. Once I bind myself to one duty, I cannot really get myself out of it. And my master has done so much for me...made me feel like I was worth something for once, not just some 'freak' who was obsessed with the land." She stepped backwards a bit, leaves swirling about her now. "General Asthar...goodbye. Next time we meet, one of us will die."

His eyes widened, he rushed towards her-

"Miss Azalea, _wait!"_

She already disappeared by the time he reached the spot where she had been standing. He let out a breath, shaking his head. He knew he couldn't just stand by and do nothing. She was now out to kill him, and she expected him to kill her in retaliation.

However, this was one person he really didn't wish to kill. If there was some way for him to reach her, to make her understand that he could be there to help if she wished to truly betray her master, then he would do it.

* * *

Zesha knocked on the door in front of him.

"Lady Calista? Are you there?"

Calista opened the door, before her eyes widened.

"Zesha...you're..."

Zesha nodded quietly, smiling faintly as he glanced down at his robes. It was a fanciful version of the armor he'd worn when serving Lord Zangurak, except it was embellished with hints of blue and red on the belt, and four swords hung off his belt instead of two-the added two being none other than the North and South wings.

"I don't want to grieve anymore." Zesha tried to explain. "Zepha is right. There are times when one can grieve, but after that there is no need for it any further. I have to move on."

Calista smiled faintly at this.

"I'm glad to see that you're doing alright. And everyone back at the Gurak Continent will be happy to see that their King is happy, too."

"Thank you." He paused, before speaking up again. "Lady Calista...when you were crying earlier today, erm...what was it about?"

Calista blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You're were not crying because of my situation earlier, was it? I had the feeling that it was something else and I want to know what it was that concerned you so greatly..."

Calista looked a bit surprised, obviously not expecting Zesha of all people to ask how she felt, but he'd changed and he was obviously now concerned for her. So, she decided to admit it to him, of why she had been crying.

"It's about Zael." She bit her lower lip briefly, before continuing. "He told me earlier that he doesn't love me in a romantic way. He..." She paused, letting out a sigh. "He only sees me as a sister. He said he wanted to tell me now, before things got too serious, and that he was sorry that he didn't tell me earlier about it."

Zesha nodded quietly. "I...see..."

Calista looked up at him. "That doesn't mean that I can be sad about it all the time. Yes, I loved him, but if that's how it all turned out I should let it all go." She smiled a bit at him. "Like you, I need to learn how to move on."

Zesha couldn't help but smile faintly at her as he heard this.

"I'm...glad to hear that..." He closed his eyes, looking away from her as he felt some sort of strange feeling bubble up inside him.

Calista looked at him in concern. "Are you alright?"

He nodded quietly, looking up at her.

"I'm fine." He lied. "I just need rest. I believe I'll depart to my guest room shortly..."

Calista nodded quietly. "Goodnight, Zesha..."

He nodded back at her, managing a small smile. "Goodnight...Calista..."

He quickly walked away before she realized that he did not address her as formally as usual.

_Why did I...what am I feeling...do I...? It can't be...or is it truly..._

_Do I feel something for her?_


	8. Hatred

_8. Hatred_

"How many of you are there serving your master?"

Therius was in the middle of interrogating Draven. And why not? Draven had promised to help Calista stop the prophecy now. It seemed that the manipulator of the dead wished now to not try to make Calista the next marionette in his collection (something Therius was grateful for, but he glared at Draven as a warning for every time Draven peeked at Calista passing by him, Draven going and admiring her beauty most likely).

"There are four of us. Though three of us are in the highest tier. The fourth is in the tier below us, so like a hierarchy of sorts." Draven answered quietly, standing in front of Therius, the two in the Military Wing. "I am one of the highest tier, but I'm actually the weakest of the three. The other two go by the names of Azalea, who controls nature magic, and Sebastian." He gritted his teeth slightly. "Azalea is stronger than me, but the strongest is definitely Sebastian. You don't want to get on his bad side-though I doubt it's too late to be on his good side now, considering you're going against our master."

Therius raised an eyebrow. "Who is the fourth who is in the middle tier? And what sort of power does Sebastian have?"

Draven paused, before speaking. "The power Sebastian has is one of the darkness element, I think...its' been a while since I sparred with him, so I don't remember completely..." He then seemed to give some sort of discomfort at answering the other question. "The fourth of us, the one who is in the middle tier...her name is Kresa. She wants to be one of the top tier, one of us...but I honestly think she's weak in comparison to the rest of us. She's the only one in the middle tier, so..." He shrugged a bit at this. "I think the reason why he put her as the only one in the middle tier is so to push her more to eventually join our rank. Everyone else in the low-tier is good-for-nothing..."

"I see..."

* * *

Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, General Asthar was sitting in his room, still thinking about his secret meeting with Azalea.

_I don't want to kill her. Not after all she's done for me...I don't want to kill her! I can't bring myself to do it. But I don't want to die, either...but what would she do? If she truly doesn't want to do this, she expects me to kill her. But I can't. I can't bring myself to do that._

He buried his head in his hands.

"What do I do...?"

"...Well, don't you think it's obvious?"

He looked up to see none other than Azalea. She had a staff in hand, her eyes glowing a dark emerald. Everything about her was cold, completely cold...

"Kill me or I kill you. The choice is simple."

He shook his head, standing and taking his sword out. "Miss Azalea, please...there has to be another way! I know you don't want to go through with the prophecy, and I know you don't want to do this..."

There was a flicker of surprise in her eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came as she spoke, her voice stern and icy like the coldest snowstorm.

"We have no choice."

She slammed her staff onto the ground, and immediately vines appeared, all of them heading towards Asthar. He slashed through them quickly, dodging the ones he couldn't slash in time and escaping through the door of his room.

_"Get back here!"_

Asthar wasn't sure if this was the fastest he'd run in his life.

He had to persuade her to stop. But how?

* * *

Draven and Therius both heard the screams, the crashes from outside the Military Wing. Both of them didn't say anything-they knew something was wrong and that they needed to see what was wrong. And, of course, they went to go see what it was.

Neither of them were expecting a fight between the recently revived General Asthar and one of their foes.

Neither one realized that neither one of them wanted to kill each other.

* * *

Asthar nearly lost his footing several times as he slashed away at vines, flowers, other plants that he couldn't really describe as he was trying his best not to get strangled by any of them.

What he failed to notice was a vine tripping him from behind, causing him to fall. Another vine knocked the sword out of his hands, rendering himself completely defenseless as Azalea approached him.

"Azalea," He tried to tell her, "Please.."

That was when Therius and Draven both burst into the hallway, Draven immediately screaming something-

And the next thing anyone knew, Azalea was sent flying through a window, hurtling towards the ground below.

_"Azalea!"_

The next thing Asthar realized was that he'd jumped out of the window after her. He couldn't have her die-no, no, _no..._

...It was all a blur.

It happened so fast that neither Asthar or Azalea realized until moments and moments later after they landed (somehow safely, with Azalea trying to summon plants to make a cushy landing below them) that they were kissing, Asthar on top of her.

It took more than a few moments for them to properly react to the situation.

And _how_ was it that they properly reacted to this awkward situation?

They panicked.

Asthar rolled off Azalea before she could push him off, panting a bit. Azalea just stared up at the sky for a moment, also taking a breath, before the two glanced at each other, awkwardly staring at each other. Azalea then turned away temporarily, letting out a breath, before turning back towards him.

"Please don't tell me you literally just jumped out the window for me and you happened to land on me and...and...you know..." She blushed a bit at this.

Asthar felt his face heat up a bit, and he temporarily looked away from her. He then took a deep breath to recompose himself, turning towards her and speaking.

"Yes, Miss Azalea, that just happened."

He expected her to glare at him, maybe say something like _'Why in the bloody world did you do that, idiot?' _Either that, or she would strangle him on the spot.

Instead, she seemed to be chuckling a bit. She looked amused by such a thing.

"To think," She started, still chuckling a bit, "That we were trying to kill each other only moments ago and now we're both kissing. What kind of sick relations are we building between each other?"

Before Asthar could respond, Therius shouted from the window.

"General Asthar! Are you alright!?"

Asthar got up, helping Azalea stand before he looked up at the window, shouting back in answer.

"I'm fine, and the same goes for Miss Azalea!" He paused awkwardly, before adding something quickly. "And we're not killing each other!"

Draven appeared in the window, a smirk plastered on his face.

"My, my...so the great General Asthar and my ex-fiance get together romantically. How fascinating."

Azalea glared at Draven, but she was obviously still blushing a bit.

"Shut up, Draven..." She continued to glare daggers at him as she spoke. "It's nothing like that!"

Asthar turned towards her. "I thought it was..."

"What!?"

Draven let out a sigh, turning to Therius. "You and Azalea are quite the oblivious ones in terms of romance, aren't you...?"

Therius glared at him. "Shut up."

As the four continued to dispute among themselves, none of them noticed a man standing not too far away from them, hidden in the bushes of the courtyard. He frowned a bit.

"So, Azalea has decided to betray our master as well...he will not be pleased."

Before anyone could notice his presence, he disappeared.


End file.
